28 SAILNEWS APRIL-JULY 2006

A little knowledge that acts is worth

infinitely more than much knowledge that
is idle.
Khalil Gibran
his indeed seems to be the underlying
philosophy that drove Rourkela Steel
Plant (RSP) to establish the Institute
for Peripheral Development (IPD) in 2005.
The basic aim of the institute is to impart
training to the people of peripheral villages
towards building their capacity for sustainable
livelihood and income generation.
While stimulating and strengthening the
social fabric of the region surrounding the
plant, proper care was taken to preserve
and nurture the tradition and culture of the
tribes under this scheme. Continuing its
thrust on enhancing the quality of life in
the region and infusing a sense of pride in
the minds of the community, regarding their
proximity to the industry, RSP has drawn
From charity to sustainability
Rourkela Steel Plant has been on a mission: to make the CSR
activities of the plant sustainable partnership projects. Though
this is not an easy task considering the entire gamut of
activities, RSP is confident that it will achieve this change
up a holistic action plan, that would not
only touch every aspect of life in the
periphery but will also simultaneously
encourage others to invest in the area to
bring prosperity.
Like most industrial towns, Rourkelas
periphery too is a zone of marginalised
poor people. Hence, the main thrust area
for development activities is on improving
human capital along with infrastructure.
The priority areas identified in this plan
include issues like enhancing the earning
capacities, skill upgradation, facilities for
youth, primary health care and sanitation,
provision of drinking water, education,
communication, recreation and availing the
conveniences of modern society to the rural
populace.
Keeping this as the long-term objective
RSP has entered into a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with Bharatiya Agro
T
F
O
C
U
S
Master trainers of IPD educating village womenfolk
SAILNEWS APRIL-JULY 2006 29
Industries Foundation (BAIF),
Pune, for helping the IPD facilitate
gr owt h and s us t ai nabl e
development in the peripheral
villages of the plant. BAIF is the
pioneer in the field of social
service established by Manibhai
Desai, a trusted disciple of
Mahatma Gandhi, and functions
on the Gandhian philosophy in
order to generate gainful self-
employment for the poor.
IPD aims at moving CSR at
Rour kel a f r om char i t y t o
sustainability mode. Along with
BAIF, IPD will implement a
project christened Parshwanchal
Vikas, which is essentially an
integrated tribal development
pr oj ect . Pr opos ed t o be
implemented over a period of
five years, the project will have
four key activity categories
z family-focused livelihood
interventions;
z community mobilisation and
capacity building;
z community/ area-focused
interventions; and
z women-focused interventions.
The aim of the project is to
provide sustainable livelihood to
the poor people living in the
periphery, by direct involvement
of the people at the grassroots
level.
Various prototype models are
proposed to be used for training
and demonstrations at IPD. These
models will be covering a wide
gamut of agro horticulture such
as fruit orchard (wadi), crops,
medicinal plants, nursery and
floriculture. Apart from this, there
wi l l al s o be model s t o
demonstrate water harvesting in
rural areas and facilities for
demonst r at i on of moder n
agricultural implements as well
as vermi - compost i ng. The
laboratory, in turn, will have
state-of-the-art equipments to
impart knowledge to the villagers
about basic electronics, diesel
pumps, two- and four-stroke
engines, hand pumps, tubewells,
mushroom cultivation and food
processing. A separate room will
be utilised for audio-visual
demonstrations of the various
activities carried out by RSP in
t he f i el d of per i pher al
development.
The Field Project comprises
an integrated field programme that
has been taken up in 15 villages
of two revenue blocks Bisra
and Kuarmunda in the first
phase. The field programme
consists of two types of major
interventions community-
focused and family-focused. In
all 2, 765 households with
approximate population of 16,100,
of which 88% population are from
socio-economically backward
classes, will be benefited by these
programmes.
I n or der t o enabl e
comprehensive development of
the participant families, the
activities will cover land-based
development, skills training, off-
farm activities and development
of the natural resources base.
Some of these activities will
be ext ended t o al l t he
participating families, while others
like the land-based activity will
be based on the resources
available with the family.
Activities for the overall benefit
of the community are the
development of micro-watersheds
and village common lands.
The communi t y- f ocused
interventions comprise formation
of self-help groups, formation of
village level organisations,
watershed development, village
common land development,
capacity building, training of
project staff, field workshops,
drinking water supply and
sanitation, health guides and
est abl i shi ng agr o ser vi ce
centers.
Sustainable management
of natural resources
Land based activities: One of
the key areas of operation in
this direction is, initiating
preliminary operations in wadi
and improved agriculture. The
activity aims at helping the tribals
to establish one-acre horticulture
plantations to provide long-term
sustainable income. In this
system, annual crops and
horticulture crops like mango,
lichi, guava, lemon and cashew
will be used. So far about 85
families have participated this
year in 15 villages and pits have
been prepared. In the ensuing
monsoon, saplings and other help
will be provided to develop these
fields as fruit orchards.
Along with this, multipurpose
trees for fodder, fuel wood and
other non-wood forest products
t o meet f uel and t i mber
requirement of the family will
also be provided. Depending on
the land and soil fertility, these
species will be arranged in
different agro forestry systems.
Under improved agriculture,
cultivation of intercrops (food and
cash crops) will be promoted on
small plots and improved
cultivation practices, incorporating
superior varieties of rice, will be
demonstrated. Treatment measures
such as improving paddy field
bunds will be taken up to ensure
in-situ moisture conservation.
Important fodder species such as
stylo and multipurpose tree
species like Gliricidia will be
promoted on the field bunds as
30 SAILNEWS APRIL-JULY 2006
FOCUS
a source of green manure for the
paddy fields.
Scope for setting up of agro
service centres will be assessed
through meetings with the farmers
and estimating input requirements
in agriculture in terms of seeds,
fertilisers and plant protection
chemicals and for services such
as hiring of implements and
machinery. Steps like desilting
of ponds, recharging of wells and
tubewells have been taken up in
a phased manner.
Watershed management: This
mostly focuses on land and water
management and community land
management. Two areas have
been identified in Bisra block
for construction of watershed
projects. These will be developed
soon.
Livestock management: Cattle
breeding and management,
management of small ruminants,
fodder development and animal
health are the key areas under
these projects. An Artificial
Insemination Centre is being set
up at Dumerjor for livestock
development, and a person has
been trained at BAIF, Pune for
this. The centre will provide
services for crossbreeding through
artificial insemination. Animal
health services will be provided
through regular vaccinations.
Demonstrations will be organised
on feeding and management
practices.
Induction of animals and
promotion of improved breeds
of goat and poultry for income
generation is proposed with the
sel ect ed f ar mer s t o have
immediate income support to the
family. Demonstration of high
yielding varieties of fodder and
supplementary nutrition and small
plot resource use trials will also
be organised with selected
farmers.
Community health: Under these
schemes, awareness camps and
programmes will be organised that
will focus on mother and child
healthcare, sanitation and drinking
water. IPD will also impart
training to the villagers and
peripheral development staff in
the field of healthcare.
Formation of peoples
organisations
Self-help groups: The project aims
at formation of six womens self-
help groups (SHGs) in the first
year. Exposure and training of
the SHG members will be
organised, while the existing
SHGs in villages will also be
strengthened through their
inclusion in the training and other
programmes. These teams will be
exposed to income generation
activities such as organised
collection and sale of forest
products, leaf cup/plate making
etc.
Village-level organisations:
For mat i on of peopl es
organisations will be undertaken
to carry forward the development
process in the villages in a
participatory and transparent
manner. In all, 15 VLOs will be
established to ensure active
participation of the community
in the development process.
Training and capacity building:
Empowerment of local people,
trained staff for the project
implementation and dissemination
of the project will involve training
on technical matters and exposure
to areas with development
projects being implemented under
similar agro climatic and social
situation.
IPD is helping tribals to establish one-acre horticulture
plantations of crops like mango, lichi, guava, lemon and
cashew that will provide long-term sustainable income.
So far about 85 families have participated in this project
this year in 15 villages and pits have been prepared.
Saplings and other help will be provided to develop these
fields as fruit orchards
A BAIF expert explains wadi cultivation techniques